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Topic: The Flour I am using ... (Read 762 times)

Hello forums,I'm quiet new to the "scientific" approach on baking pizza.

Currently I am using a flour with 9,8g protein / 100 g flour. If I understood this correct, my flour has ~ 10 % protein content then.

Now I've read there are flours with higher or lower protein content, higher being often associated with "better". This one seems to be pretty close to AP flour ? Do I have any incentive to change my flour brand as long as I am still doing basic experiments ?

I do not have a pizza stone, I use an aluminium sheet pan or a mesh grill insert in an electric oven. I am shooting for a thin crust - medium chew pizza.

The past batches had a problem where the bubble structure of the finished pizza was very dense and in turn the crust was pretty stiff. (500 g flour, dry yeast, tbsp. salt, olive oil, 1.3 cups of water).

Should I use higher or lower hydration ? I am also going to increase the fermentation time and experiment with retarding the fermentation process.

I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts. Bakers math is easier to use if you stick with a consistent unit of measurement. Switching back and forth between cups (volume) and grams (weight) will leave your head spinning. I converted your 1.3 c water to 307g, which divided by 500 gives you a hydration of 61%, which is pretty reasonable. I don't think your hydration is necessarily the issue. You might want to post the amounts of yeast, salt, oil, and sugar you are using so more knowledgable members can help out. Your mixing and fermentation protocol are also very useful to know, as is your oven temperature and bake time. Knowing all that stuff pretty precisely is probably more important than the protein content of your flour.